The city of Cape Town, in South Africa in recent weeks appeared to have been overwhelmed by violence requiring a national intervention.
At least 20 people have been killed in the city since last week. That includes the killing of 13 people, all shot dead in Philippi East.
The surge in violence according to residents is due to friction among gangs and the increase in gangster activities.
Many Cape Town flats have been run-over by activities of gangs with the government approving additional resources to tackle the crisis.
The South African National Defence Force has now been deployed to communities in Cape Town to handle the issue.
Ten areas identified as the most prone locations for gang activities are Bishop Lavis, Mitchells Plain, Delft, Elsies River and Nyanga.
The rest are Khayelitsha, Mfuleni, Philippi, Kraaifontein; and Manenberg. There is an ongoing turf war between rival gangs, fueled by retaliation attacks.
Police Minister Bheki Cele has said that deployment is part of measures to ensure public safety.
“We’ll go door to door, we’ll collect every illegal firearm, we’ll collect all criminals that we want, we’ll collect all outstanding criminals that have been on bail,” Mr Cele told local media.
Police have already started raiding some communities to compliment the exercise the military will be executing.
Source: Africafeeds.com
